“The world and everything in it is unplanned accident, existence is meaningless; the past is irrelevant; nothing matters."
Major Points:
- There will always be war, someone fighting another person for some petty reason. It will never stop, the motives for fighting are irrelevant, whether it's revenge or greed or power, because it's human nature. So really, what does it matter who kills who or who fights who? Everybody dies, everybody is just a microscopic speck in the course of time.
----> pg. 34, Grendel
"Then the wars began, and the war songs, and the weapon making. If the songs were true, as I suppose at least one or two of the mwere, there had always been wars, and what I'd seen was merely a period of mutual exhaustion." (Grendel)
- Heroes think there is meaning in dying pointless deaths; what's the point of your existence then?
----> pg. 88, Grendel
"No man above us will ever know whether Unferth died here or fled to the hills like a coward. Only you and I and God will know the truth. That's inner heroism." (Unferth, at Grendel's feet in his cave)
~ Exactly, nobody will ever know or care in what circumstances you died, because everybody dies and so what's the point? What's the point of knowing the truth if the end result is the same?
- No matter what you do, it doesn't make even a blip in the course of eternity. What difference does it make if you kill one queen? What differences does it make if you let one queen live? Everybody will eventually return to ashes, even Grendel himself. Existence truly is meaningless, so it doesn't matter what you do during your existence, not in the long run.
----> pg. 110, Grendel
"I changed my mind. It would be meaningless, killing her. As meaningless as letting her live. It would be, for me, mere pointless pleasure, an illusion of order for this one frail, foolish flicker-flash in the long dull fall of eternity." (Grendel decides not to kill Wealtheow)
- Even the actions of people are meaningless. How much time do people spend doing things they really don't give a damn about?
----> pg. 143, Grendel
"The king and queen wait, dutiful, probably counting the time off in their heads... The herbalist, no longer useful to the onetime king of poets, paces back and forth slowly, rubbing his hands. He waits for the soft, dry, throat-rattle that will free him to go pace elsewhere." (the Shaper dying)
~ The "onetime king of poets": even things men count as success or glory is meaningless, as everything fades, everything vanishes. The Shaper will die, his reputation will die, and the people around him that supposedly care for him wait impatiently for him to hurry up and die.
- If you say love, family, honour make life meaningfull, purposeful, well then I have news for you.
----> pg. 53, Grendel
"And as for Hrothgar, if he was serious about his idea of glory--sons and sons' sons giving out treasure--I had news for him. If he had sons, they wouldn't hear his words. They would weigh his silver and gold in their minds. I've watched the generations. I've seen their weasel eyes."
Main Statement:
Let us pretend for a moment that we are not puny, insignificant human beings, and let us take the viewpoint of greater beings like the gods or the Dragon. Look at the past. present, and future. Everybody dies, everything turns to ashes, and the same pointless wars and arguments are fought over and over and over again. There will always be war, someone fighting another person for some petty reason. It will never stop, the motives for fighting are irrelevant, whether it's revenge or greed or power, because it's human nature. So really, what does it matter who kills who or who fights who? Everybody dies, everybody is just a microscopic speck in the course of time. Look at what Grendel observes about the patterns of the human clans on page 34, the very beginning of the story, "Then the wars began, and the war songs, and the weapon making. If the songs were true, as I suppose at least one or two of them were, there had always been wars, and what I'd seen was merely a period of mutual exhaustion." So called "heroes" defy this, and say that there is always honour in dying in battle, honour and meaning in everything. I look at pathetic "warriors" like Unferth as people dying pointless deaths; at Grendel's feet and mercy in the underwater cave, Unferth says, "No man above us will ever know whether Unferth died here or fled to the hills like a coward. Only you and I and God will know the truth. That's inner heroism." So nobody but you will know if you ran away screaming or stayed still and let Grendel chop you to pieces; what's the point of your existence then? What does it matter what you do or say or how you die? If you look at the grand scale of things, your life and the lives of all others are completely, totally meaningless. If everything is planned out like threads woven into a blanket from the very beginning, no matter what you do, it doesn't make even a blip in the course of eternity. For example, what difference does it make if you kill one queen? What differences does it make if you let one queen live? Everybody will eventually return to ashes, even Grendel himself. Even the "onetime king of poets" that was the Shaper will die. His reputation will die, his glory will die, and the people around him that supposedly care for him wait impatiently for him to hurry up and die. Existence truly is meaningless, so it doesn't matter what you do during your existence, not in the long run. This is exactly why Grendel says, "I changed my mind. It would be meaningless, killing her. As meaningless as letting her live. It would be, for me, mere pointless pleasure, an illusion of order for this one frail, foolish flicker-flash in the long dull fall of eternity." Even the actions of people supposedly acting out of love and respect are meaningless. After all, how much time do people spend in their lifetimes, doing things they really don't care about? Look at the oh-so dutiful King and Queen at the Shaper's deathbed. "The king and queen wait, dutiful, probably counting the time off in their heads... The herbalist, no longer useful to the onetime king of poets, paces back and forth slowly, rubbing his hands. He waits for the soft, dry, throat-rattle that will free him to go pace elsewhere." And if you say no, life truly does have meaning and purpose because of love and family, just look at the fates of Hrothgar and his family. "And as for Hrothgar, if he was serious about his idea of glory--sons and sons' sons giving out treasure--I had news for him. If he had sons, they wouldn't hear his words. They would weigh his silver and gold in their minds. I've watched the generations. I've seen their weasel eyes." And his once beautiful wife Wealtheow; how does "love" give life meaning when love doesn't seem to really exist? Wealtheow didn't marry Hrothgar for love, and the rest of her life following this arranged marriage was doomed, grey, colourless. Nothing, truly nothing, matters in life.
Letter Reflection:
John Gardner's letter gave me a lot of food for thought; I hadn't considered Grendel's process throughout his life of "trying out" philosophies before turning to nihilism like the Dragon had told him about. John Gardner explains that although even Grendel himself had a chance to live, maybe not a more meaningful (as the meaning of life is still in debate here) life, but at least one some comfort, stability, and maybe love. If he had assimilated and accepted the "imaginary values" that humans impose on themselves to try to idealize their miserable world and give themselves more hope for the future, maybe he would not have turned into such a monster. However, the humans shunned him for being scary and a misfit, and thus Grendel turned to the Dragon. The letter really got into the Dragon, more so than what I had initially mulled around in my head. "Everything will eventually die, so you might as well fo for instant gratification." Bingo. That, seems to be the most concise and precise description of what the Dragon tells Grendel to do. So that's how Grendel becomes more of a monster; he thinks, if nothing matters, well I might as well rip into this man or kill this queen just for the pleasure of the moment. Reading John Gardner's letter, in other words, clarified a lot of the thoughts I already had about the natures of these characters, and showed me that, yes, they can be put into concise words.
As for the trial, I thought the letter was particularly helpful for arguing our position, position one, simply because what Gardner talks about is how assuming that life is meaningless and there is no God or eternal values (exactly our position), well then, how should one behave and live. He seems to be convinced of the bleakness in both Grendel and Beowulf, especially the latter, and this kind of attitude is helpful in proving our side to a sympathetic jury. For example, I hadn't known exactly before that Beowulf "dies deluded -- thinking he has saved his people when in fact the treasure he's captured is worthless (cursed and rusted) and his people are now certain to die, since the Swedes can no longer be held off." Wow, this gives us an edge against Beowulf... And since I'm questioning Unferth, the opposition's witness, I can use against him what Gardner says about the idealogy of heroes, "in other words... in this world, you simply cannot win, no matter how noble you are. The best you can hope for is fame, and eventually fame dies." Unferth goes on and on about how his death will not be a waste, that this is "inner heroism", and yes, although Gardner does say that inner heroism (or living up to values that you are not sure even exist, or acting true even if you can't prove there is God or a heaven) is a good quality, we can also argue, what's the point? If everything dies, rusts away, fades, like Stonehenge as Gardner mentions or the great civilizations of old, then what difference are you going to make in the span of time? The jury might be sympathetic to Unferth, so best be careful with that one... But in general, the letter does clarify and give us some hints as to how we can argue the miserable philosophy of "nothing matters".
Major Points:
- There will always be war, someone fighting another person for some petty reason. It will never stop, the motives for fighting are irrelevant, whether it's revenge or greed or power, because it's human nature. So really, what does it matter who kills who or who fights who? Everybody dies, everybody is just a microscopic speck in the course of time.
----> pg. 34, Grendel
"Then the wars began, and the war songs, and the weapon making. If the songs were true, as I suppose at least one or two of the mwere, there had always been wars, and what I'd seen was merely a period of mutual exhaustion." (Grendel)
- Heroes think there is meaning in dying pointless deaths; what's the point of your existence then?
----> pg. 88, Grendel
"No man above us will ever know whether Unferth died here or fled to the hills like a coward. Only you and I and God will know the truth. That's inner heroism." (Unferth, at Grendel's feet in his cave)
~ Exactly, nobody will ever know or care in what circumstances you died, because everybody dies and so what's the point? What's the point of knowing the truth if the end result is the same?
- No matter what you do, it doesn't make even a blip in the course of eternity. What difference does it make if you kill one queen? What differences does it make if you let one queen live? Everybody will eventually return to ashes, even Grendel himself. Existence truly is meaningless, so it doesn't matter what you do during your existence, not in the long run.
----> pg. 110, Grendel
"I changed my mind. It would be meaningless, killing her. As meaningless as letting her live. It would be, for me, mere pointless pleasure, an illusion of order for this one frail, foolish flicker-flash in the long dull fall of eternity." (Grendel decides not to kill Wealtheow)
- Even the actions of people are meaningless. How much time do people spend doing things they really don't give a damn about?
----> pg. 143, Grendel
"The king and queen wait, dutiful, probably counting the time off in their heads... The herbalist, no longer useful to the onetime king of poets, paces back and forth slowly, rubbing his hands. He waits for the soft, dry, throat-rattle that will free him to go pace elsewhere." (the Shaper dying)
~ The "onetime king of poets": even things men count as success or glory is meaningless, as everything fades, everything vanishes. The Shaper will die, his reputation will die, and the people around him that supposedly care for him wait impatiently for him to hurry up and die.
- If you say love, family, honour make life meaningfull, purposeful, well then I have news for you.
----> pg. 53, Grendel
"And as for Hrothgar, if he was serious about his idea of glory--sons and sons' sons giving out treasure--I had news for him. If he had sons, they wouldn't hear his words. They would weigh his silver and gold in their minds. I've watched the generations. I've seen their weasel eyes."
Main Statement:
Let us pretend for a moment that we are not puny, insignificant human beings, and let us take the viewpoint of greater beings like the gods or the Dragon. Look at the past. present, and future. Everybody dies, everything turns to ashes, and the same pointless wars and arguments are fought over and over and over again. There will always be war, someone fighting another person for some petty reason. It will never stop, the motives for fighting are irrelevant, whether it's revenge or greed or power, because it's human nature. So really, what does it matter who kills who or who fights who? Everybody dies, everybody is just a microscopic speck in the course of time. Look at what Grendel observes about the patterns of the human clans on page 34, the very beginning of the story, "Then the wars began, and the war songs, and the weapon making. If the songs were true, as I suppose at least one or two of them were, there had always been wars, and what I'd seen was merely a period of mutual exhaustion." So called "heroes" defy this, and say that there is always honour in dying in battle, honour and meaning in everything. I look at pathetic "warriors" like Unferth as people dying pointless deaths; at Grendel's feet and mercy in the underwater cave, Unferth says, "No man above us will ever know whether Unferth died here or fled to the hills like a coward. Only you and I and God will know the truth. That's inner heroism." So nobody but you will know if you ran away screaming or stayed still and let Grendel chop you to pieces; what's the point of your existence then? What does it matter what you do or say or how you die? If you look at the grand scale of things, your life and the lives of all others are completely, totally meaningless. If everything is planned out like threads woven into a blanket from the very beginning, no matter what you do, it doesn't make even a blip in the course of eternity. For example, what difference does it make if you kill one queen? What differences does it make if you let one queen live? Everybody will eventually return to ashes, even Grendel himself. Even the "onetime king of poets" that was the Shaper will die. His reputation will die, his glory will die, and the people around him that supposedly care for him wait impatiently for him to hurry up and die. Existence truly is meaningless, so it doesn't matter what you do during your existence, not in the long run. This is exactly why Grendel says, "I changed my mind. It would be meaningless, killing her. As meaningless as letting her live. It would be, for me, mere pointless pleasure, an illusion of order for this one frail, foolish flicker-flash in the long dull fall of eternity." Even the actions of people supposedly acting out of love and respect are meaningless. After all, how much time do people spend in their lifetimes, doing things they really don't care about? Look at the oh-so dutiful King and Queen at the Shaper's deathbed. "The king and queen wait, dutiful, probably counting the time off in their heads... The herbalist, no longer useful to the onetime king of poets, paces back and forth slowly, rubbing his hands. He waits for the soft, dry, throat-rattle that will free him to go pace elsewhere." And if you say no, life truly does have meaning and purpose because of love and family, just look at the fates of Hrothgar and his family. "And as for Hrothgar, if he was serious about his idea of glory--sons and sons' sons giving out treasure--I had news for him. If he had sons, they wouldn't hear his words. They would weigh his silver and gold in their minds. I've watched the generations. I've seen their weasel eyes." And his once beautiful wife Wealtheow; how does "love" give life meaning when love doesn't seem to really exist? Wealtheow didn't marry Hrothgar for love, and the rest of her life following this arranged marriage was doomed, grey, colourless. Nothing, truly nothing, matters in life.
Letter Reflection:
John Gardner's letter gave me a lot of food for thought; I hadn't considered Grendel's process throughout his life of "trying out" philosophies before turning to nihilism like the Dragon had told him about. John Gardner explains that although even Grendel himself had a chance to live, maybe not a more meaningful (as the meaning of life is still in debate here) life, but at least one some comfort, stability, and maybe love. If he had assimilated and accepted the "imaginary values" that humans impose on themselves to try to idealize their miserable world and give themselves more hope for the future, maybe he would not have turned into such a monster. However, the humans shunned him for being scary and a misfit, and thus Grendel turned to the Dragon. The letter really got into the Dragon, more so than what I had initially mulled around in my head. "Everything will eventually die, so you might as well fo for instant gratification." Bingo. That, seems to be the most concise and precise description of what the Dragon tells Grendel to do. So that's how Grendel becomes more of a monster; he thinks, if nothing matters, well I might as well rip into this man or kill this queen just for the pleasure of the moment. Reading John Gardner's letter, in other words, clarified a lot of the thoughts I already had about the natures of these characters, and showed me that, yes, they can be put into concise words.
As for the trial, I thought the letter was particularly helpful for arguing our position, position one, simply because what Gardner talks about is how assuming that life is meaningless and there is no God or eternal values (exactly our position), well then, how should one behave and live. He seems to be convinced of the bleakness in both Grendel and Beowulf, especially the latter, and this kind of attitude is helpful in proving our side to a sympathetic jury. For example, I hadn't known exactly before that Beowulf "dies deluded -- thinking he has saved his people when in fact the treasure he's captured is worthless (cursed and rusted) and his people are now certain to die, since the Swedes can no longer be held off." Wow, this gives us an edge against Beowulf... And since I'm questioning Unferth, the opposition's witness, I can use against him what Gardner says about the idealogy of heroes, "in other words... in this world, you simply cannot win, no matter how noble you are. The best you can hope for is fame, and eventually fame dies." Unferth goes on and on about how his death will not be a waste, that this is "inner heroism", and yes, although Gardner does say that inner heroism (or living up to values that you are not sure even exist, or acting true even if you can't prove there is God or a heaven) is a good quality, we can also argue, what's the point? If everything dies, rusts away, fades, like Stonehenge as Gardner mentions or the great civilizations of old, then what difference are you going to make in the span of time? The jury might be sympathetic to Unferth, so best be careful with that one... But in general, the letter does clarify and give us some hints as to how we can argue the miserable philosophy of "nothing matters".